Starbucks workers will walk off the job today in three U.S. cities in a strike that their union says could spread across the country in the busy time before Christmas.
The announcement, which will initially affect stores in Los Angeles, Chicago and the company's hometown of Seattle, comes at a time when online giant Amazon was also hit by a strike in the final days of the holiday shopping season.
The Starbucks Workers Union, which claims to represent baristas at hundreds of locations across the country, said its action is aimed at forcing the company to improve pay and conditions after months of negotiations that it says have led to nothing.
"Nobody wants to strike. It's a last resort, but Starbucks broke its promise to thousands of baristas and left us with no other choice," the union said in a press release quoted by Texas barista Fatemeh Alhajabudi and the AFP.
The strike, which the union says will cover more locations every day until December 24, comes at a time when Starbucks is struggling with stagnant sales in key markets.
Former Chipotle boss Brian Nicoll was brought in to the job this year with the task of stemming a slump that has seen quarterly global revenue fall three per cent to $9 billion.
"In September, Brian Nicoll became CEO with a compensation package worth at least $113 million," which is thousands of times the salary of the average barista, union member Michelle Eisen said in the statement.
The union said Starbucks had not had fruitful negotiations for several months, and threatened it was prepared to "show the company the consequences."
"We refuse to accept zero immediate investment in barista wages and no solution to the hundreds of unresolved unfair labor practices," said Lynn Fox, president of Workers United.
"Union baristas know their value and will not accept a proposal that does not treat them as true partners," she added.
Starbucks pointed the finger back at Workers United, saying its delegates "prematurely ended our bargaining session this week."
"It is disappointing that they did not return to the table, given the progress we have made to date," the company stated.
It added that it offers "a competitive average wage of more than $18 an hour" and benefits that include health insurance, paid family leave, free company stock and free college tuition for employees.
"We are prepared to continue negotiations to reach agreements. We need the union back at the bargaining table," the company said. | BGNES
